Along with a brutal and viral grilling of Biden White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Monday’s CBS Mornings also showed new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss it’s serious about following her directive to appeal to the middle of the country by also taking to task socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on everything from the shutdown to Democrat Party approval numbers.
Sanders — who was also starting a book tour — was fresh off a keynote speech at Saturday’s No Kings rally in Washington D.C. and was given a warm welcome by co-host Tony Dokoupil noting Sanders “told protesters in Washington that mega billionaires are hijacking, in his words, America’s democracy.”
The fun stopped there with Dokoupil pressing Sanders on why he and his fellow leftists are refusing to take Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-SD) offer to reopen the government and have a vote on increasing ObamaCare subsidies. Through his response, Sanders made clear he’d much rather drive home the dangerous, incendiary rhetoric about Republicans murdering tens of thousands:
After Dokoupil had Sanders cornered by wondering why throw all the bluster if “you don’t think you can win a vote,” co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King bailed Sanders out by wondering why can’t the two sides negotiate:
But how do we get out with both sides blaming the other? Still nobody’s talking. I think that’s — I think that’s what is frustrating to everybody because everybody making the decisions are getting paid while the employees — the workers are going without. Somebody has to say get together and talk.
Sanders blamed House Republicans by arguing they need to cave as well as Senate Republicans not giving Democrats what they want since the GOP only have 53 of the necessary 60 votes to pass a funding bill.
King quickly pivoted to the No Kings hoopla with this softball: “Can we talk about No Kings protest this week? How do you translate all of that passion into action, into votes?”
Sanders even complimented her by declaring that a “great question and that is exactly what we’re working on” by encouraging more to run for office on his platform.
Just as he did during the Jean-Pierre interview, Burleson served as the left to Dokoupil’s right in terms of questions:
Now, let’s get back to one of the major themes of the book. You talk about the Democratic Party and how the “turned its back on the needs and suffering of the American working class.” So, what do we need to do moving forward? What does the Democratic Party need to do moving forward?
Sanders answer included a dubious claim about wage growth, leading to a Dokoupil fact-check:
The interview concluded shortly thereafter with Dokoupil wondering why, by his recollection based on polls, two-thirds of Americans do not trust Democrats:
Dokoupil wasn’t all negative and thanked him for coming on, correctly pointing out Sanders has always been clear what he thinks: “Senator, you always bring an affirmative case, that is true. A lot of Democrats don’t and you — you say what you want to happen[.]”
To see the relevant CBS transcript from October 20, click here.
